Autistics don’t adjust their behavior to protect their reputations

New research suggests that autism may be linked to a problem with theory-of- …

How generous are you? Do you give money to the homeless, volunteer your time, or help little old ladies cross the street? What about when nobody’s around? It turns out that most people are much more generous when they think someone else is watching, since generosity is a way to improve their social reputation in the eyes of others. However, a new study in PNAS shows that individuals with autism and related disorders don’t follow this behavioral pattern.

Researchers know that people with autism spectrum disorders lack the ability to engage normally in social interactions. However, they don’t know exactly what aspect of cognition is impaired in autistic individuals. One theory is that those with autism don’t have a full grasp of theory-of-mind—that is, they can’t (or don’t) attribute beliefs and feelings to other people. One way this may manifest itself is in one’s social reputation: while most people put great value in how others see them, autistic individuals may not either understand or care about their social reputation.

A group of scientists put this idea to the test by assessing how likely people with and without autism were to donate to charity, both alone and in the presence of an observer. One group consisted of high-functioning adults with diagnosed autism spectrum disorders; a control group consisted of normally functioning adults matched for age, sex, and IQ.

The participants were presented with possible monetary transfers between themselves and the charitable organization UNICEF—they could either accept or reject the transaction. To give the choices some weight, each subject was given $45 and told that one of the transactions they accepted during the course of the experiment would be randomly selected and carried out at the end.

When participants were alone, both groups were willing to donate about the same amount of money to UNICEF. However, there were definite differences between the groups when an observer was present: the control group was much more likely to donate, but there was no change in the charitable behavior of the autistic participants. More interestingly, those in the control group that had been willing to donate the least were the most strongly affected by the observer’s presence. These people may have felt that they had the most to gain by increasing their donations and enhancing their reputation.

Not only were the decisions different for the control group in the two conditions, but their reaction times also differed. Participants in the control group made their decisions more quickly when the observer was present than when they were alone. There was no difference in the reaction times for the autistic participants in the presence or absence of the observer.

It’s possible that these results are due to the autistic group simply not properly recognizing or processing the presence of another person; however, in non-social tasks, both groups reacted to an observer in the same way. The behaviors between the groups differed only during the donation task when an observer was present: in other words, when one’s social reputation was at stake.

So, it is clear that people with autism don’t increase their charitable donations when they are being watched. Why not? There are two potential explanations: first, they aren’t able to make the cognitive leap to understand how others form impressions of them, or second, that having a good reputation simply isn’t rewarding to them.

Although researchers aren’t yet sure why this phenomenon occurs, this is good evidence that disorders on the autism spectrum are characterized by a problem with theory-of-mind and social representations. We have a long way to go in discovering the neurological underpinnings and behavioral ramifications of autism, but it’s an important step in understanding the how the disorder works.

Kate Shaw Yoshida / Kate is a science writer for Ars Technica. She recently earned a dual Ph.D. in Zoology and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior from Michigan State University, studying the social behavior of wild spotted hyenas.